Thursday, March 12, 2009

Bandhakopi'r Ghonto -- a dry Cabbage Dish

What is a Ghonto ? In simple words it is a dry vegetable dish cooked in a Bengali Kitchen

But the simplicity ends there. All dry vegetable dishes are NOT Ghonto, ghonto is a mere subset of all possible dry vegetable dishes in the Bengali Kitchen. Incidentally there is also an area of intersection with dry non-veg dishes.

What is the unique feature which binds all ghonto ? No clue, except for use of some common spices. For some strange reason unknown to me, there is BandhaKopi'r Ghonto (a dry Cabbage dish), Lau Ghonto( a dry Bottle Gourd dish), Mulo Ghonto(with radish) but there never is a Dharosh(Okra) Ghonto.

After much brainstorming(yeah I need to storm my brain on such complex matters), it dawned on me that "Ghonto" is derived from the word "Gha(n)ta" in Bengali, which means to mix.While Charchari derived its name from the method of cooking which lets the veggies char a little, I guess Ghonto too derived its name from a cooking method where you basically, mix/stir and cook. So while you wouldn't stir a Charchari much in a Ghonto you would. Following that logic, you would need veggies that can retain their shape even on mixing and so you choose veggies like Cabbage, Bottle Gourd, Radish etc. for your ghonto and not softer ones like Okra. This is just my theory, if you have any idea on the nomenclature, please do share.

For carnivorous bongs, every veggie dish has a non-veg equivalent so though Ghonto is largely a vegetarian dish you also have Muri Ghonto with Fish head and you can add fish head or shrimp even to a BandhaKopi'r Ghonto or a Lau Ghonto.

Again for some strange reason though a Bong will add Fish or Fish head to a very vegetarian dish(as above) they will not even use onion or garlic when cooking the same vegetarian dish sans the fish. So a typical BandhaKopi'r Ghonto or Lau Ghonto or whatever will not have onions or garlic and same is true for any charchari

The recipe I have here is a niramish(veg) BandhaKopi'r Ghonto that my Ma makes. To make it amish(non-veg) she will just add fried shrimp to it or fried pieces of fish head. This is usually served with Rice and Dal for everyday Lunch, with Rotis for Dinner and sometimes with Khichuri in a comunity feast like Picnic etc. You can squirt a little lime juice and have a bowl of it, just by it self too, I like it that way.

I usually don't cook my cabbage to death, I like it crunchy but usually in this dish it is cooked till the cabbage loses all its crunchiness. The hubby says my Cabbage dish reminds him of the cabbage cooked during the neighborhood picnics that he went to as a kid. That doesn't sound like a compliment, I am guessing he says that because my cabbage has a crunch and not because he has bad cabbage memories from the picnics.

Fry till the tomatoes are all nicely mushed up and there is no raw smell

Add 1/4 cup of grean peas and saute for a minute

Add 1 tsp of Cumin Powder/Jeera Powder, 1 tsp of Corriander Powder/Dhania Powder, 1/4 tsp of Red Chilli Powder and 1-2 tsp of freshly grated Ginger. I usually mix all the above masala in little water to make a thick paste and add it.

Fry the masala till the oil starts separating from the masala. If needed sprinkle water while frying

Add about 6-8 cups of finely chopped cabbage. Add the cabbage gradually and mix well with the masala. Add a little turmeric powder for color. Fry the cabbage with the masala for couple of minutes. The shredded cabbage should be nicely coated with the spices.

Add about 1/4 tsp of Kitchen King masala or any other such masala and salt. The Kitchen King is optional and you can skip it.

Add the fried potatoes, give a good stir and cover and cook

Normally you wouldn't need to add water but check intermittently and give a good stir in between. Add little water if needed for the veggies to cook.

Edited on 12/14/2010: When veggies are almost done, add 1/4-1/2 tsp of sugar. Bengali Bandhakopi is usually on the sweet side and the sugar lends a nice dimension to the dish. Skip if you don't like sweet.

When the veggies are done (according to you) add 1/4-1/2 tsp of Garam masala Powder and 1/4 tsp of ghee

Mix well and you are done

Sometimes I add juice of a quarter lemon and no Ghee, though this is not the usual trend

Trivia:Egyptian pharaohs would eat large quantities of cabbage before a night of drinking as they believed that cabbage consumption would allow them to drink more alcoholic beverages and not feel the effects. This is perhaps why many still consider cabbage with vinegar as a good hangover remedy.

Great post Sandeepa. I love to learn all the Bengali words, although I might never a sentence. I like Amish and Niramish. We call Ghonto as Palya with stir fried veg, and with little gravy, it will be Gojju.

I love that Ghonto with KK masala, can add cubed carrots too. Looks like a yummy thali to sit down after a day's work. Enjoy! :)

I would definetly love Amish style, pretty much my mom added shrimp in all her veggies to make us eat, reminds her curry :) We never gave her trouble and started loving vegetables for the flavor of shrimp! Ur thali is simply inviting :)

Ghanta theke Ghonto? ! eta kono din bhabhi ni:-) Ki shundor thala shajiyecho! bnadha kopi ektu knacha bhalo laage.. & I had mentioned that before in my blog..in bengal a lot of dishes are without garlic & onion, which makes it really uncomplicated i think. Sandeepa I think what your husband said is a compliment.. those tastes are authentic!

lovely dish as well the post,normally cabbage dishes sound uninteresting,but you have written the post beautifully.Even those who do not like cabbage will be interested.The trivia about pharaohs is very interesting the combo is not that appetising.

I like the name! Ghonto sounds so rustic and conjures up beautiful images:) Our dish names are also based a lot on the style of cooking and I too like my cabbage crunchy - infact I like most veggies crunchy:)

Funnily enough, bottlegourd never struck me as a veg that could hold its shape - unless we took care. I had lau ghonto when I visited Cal last year - we were told it was a speciality of that particular restaurant. We all liked it a lot though I didn't think it was exotic. Also, it was plain, no tomatoes in it. I loved the veg food and couldn't get enough of it. And the mustard fish too!

Loved the thali, San! What's the other dish, in the other katori? That looks gorgeous too! :)ABout the non-use of onions and garlic - it's true of South Indian brahmins too. Typically, there's no onion or garlic in any of our dishes. Of course, I cannot live without either! :)

Oh of course I do .This way and also with paanch phoron, shukno lonka and chopped tomatoes - no spices, no turmeric . Machher maatha diye too but never had it with shrimp. Do mail me the recipe when you have time- mallika.ganguly@gmail.com

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine